One of the most valuable assets of a modern business, especially of a service provider, is its good will. Good will represents the public's positive perception of the business's reputation, products, or services in terms of its ability to generate revenue for the business, or to provide the business some advantage in the relevant marketplace. Naturally, businesses invest in a variety of branding strategies to develop their good will. Likewise, maintaining and promoting the positive image of existing brands is crucial.
For businesses that employ workforces that regularly interact with customers (such as airline flight attendants or gate agents) or a workforces having members that are simply visible to customers (such as package delivery personnel), the appearance of the workforce members is important to the brand image. To this end, workforces typically wear uniforms that are supplied to them by a uniform provider.
Outfitting a large workforce with uniforms can be quite challenging. For example, unlike in a consumer apparel shopping scenario, in which individual shoppers in department stores or online are generally free to select clothing for themselves among a wide variety of apparel types, styles, and sizes, without external time constraints, a uniform supplier provides a limited selection of uniforms of a specific type, having a limited number of styles and a limited number of standard sizes, and must supply the uniforms to a potentially large number of employees in a limited timeframe. This is especially true in situations when a company is switching to a new type of uniform as part of a new branding campaign. In this situation, the entire workforce must be re-outfitted by a specific launch date. This includes determining what uniform sizes to manufacture for the workforce, determining what type and size of uniform is suitable for each employee in accordance with the brand image, delivering the appropriate uniform to each employee, optionally verifying correct selection and fit, and handling returns, re-fits, and other special cases. Another concern of uniform providers is the need to supply uniforms to all employees, without exception, including accommodating unusual sizes, maternity status, allergies, religious requirements, and physical disabilities. Management of these exceptions is difficult and costly.
Moreover, the appearance of the uniforms, as worn by the members of the workforce, must comply with the brand image of their employer. Individual employees have unique body shapes and sizes, as well as individual tastes and preferences. There is an ever-present risk that certain employees might select a uniform that is inappropriate in terms of brand image, such as too loose, too tight, or in a style that does not conform to their body shape according to the brand image. These considerations must be balanced with the need to provide uniforms to the members of the workforce that they will enjoy wearing. Ultimately, the overall morale of the workforce plays a large part in the its ability to provide quality service and convey the proper brand image; and any displeasure towards wearing the uniforms experienced by members of the workforce can be a significant contributor to morale problems.
Conventionally, uniform providers supply uniforms that are pre-ordered by the employees. Ordering can be accomplished by catalog or online; however, employers prefer to control what type and size of uniform each employee selects for himself or herself. As a result, catalogs can include size charts that limit available styles and sizes for certain body dimensions. Each employee must find his or her measurements on the size chart, and determine the corresponding uniform size to order. This scheme provides little or no policing of proper fit in accordance with the brand image.
Employers can organize fit clinics at which employees have an opportunity to try on various uniforms to determine the best fit and best style (if there is a selection of available styles). Also, consultants can be on-hand at the fit clinics to advise employees as to what fit complies with the brand image. For large workforces that are distributed over a large geographic area, it is difficult and expensive to administer such fit clinics for example, due to the difficult for each of the employees to reach a fit clinic to determine their best size. In addition the timeline is tight to meet the customer expectations for launch.
In uniform change-over situations, to expedite the process, uniform providers need to begin production of the uniforms prior to the fit clinics and often determine the sizes of garments based on historical trends. This method is imprecise and may be out-dated as fashion trends change rapidly. Because orders for manufacture conventionally need to be placed early (such as before conducting the fit clinics), it is often impractical to collect employee comments and conduct surveys.
In view of these, and other numerous challenges of outfitting a workforce with uniforms, a solution is desirable for expediting the selection and sizing, ordering, and related processes, while enabling employers to promote and manage their brand images.